Greenford is a London Underground and National Rail station in Greenford, Greater London, and is owned and managed by London Underground. It is the terminus of the National Rail Greenford branch line, 2 miles 40 chains (2.5 mi; 4.0 km) down the line from West Ealing and 9 miles 6 chains (9.1 mi; 14.6 km) measured from London Paddington. On the Central line, it is between Perivale and Northolt stations while on National Rail, the next station to the south on the branch is South Greenford.

Greenford London Underground National Rail
GWR Class 165 DMU no. 165121 in the bay platform at Greenford in May 2021
Greenford is located in Greater London
Greenford
Greenford
Location of Greenford in Greater London
LocationGreenford
Local authorityLondon Borough of Ealing
Managed byLondon Underground
OwnerTransport for London
Station code(s)GFD
Number of platforms3 (2 LU, 1 bay); 1 bay platform face disused
Fare zone4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019Decrease 4.17 million[1]
2020Decrease 2.96 million[2]
2021Decrease 2.05 million[3]
2022Increase 3.29 million[4]
2023Decrease 3.27 million[5]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2018–19Increase 0.153 million[6]
2019–20Increase 0.170 million[6]
2020–21Decrease 58,834[6]
2021–22Increase 0.100 million[6]
2022–23Increase 0.126 million[6]
Key dates
1 October 1904Opened
30 June 1947London Underground station opened
17 June 1963[7]Original main line platforms closed
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°32′33″N 0°20′47″W / 51.5426°N 0.3463°W / 51.5426; -0.3463
London transport portal

Greenford station is in Travelcard Zone 4.

History

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A 1914 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the vicinity of Greenford

The original Greenford station was opened by the Great Western Railway on 1 October 1904 on the joint "New North Main Line" (present-day Acton–Northolt line).[8]

The present station, adjacent to the original, was designed by Brian Lewis and built in the Central line extension of the 1935-40 New Works Programme of the London Passenger Transport Board. It was completed by Frederick Francis Charles Curtis and opened on 30 June 1947 after delay due to World War II.[8] Service at the original ("main-line") station was gradually reduced and it was closed in 1963. Operational responsibility for the station transferred from British Rail to London Transport with effect from 13 November 1967.[9]

The site of the old station for the New North Main Line can still be seen from inside Central line trains.

The station today

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Greenford station is above ground level with an island platform for the Central line. A bay platform facing south-east between the Underground platforms serves the Greenford branch service operated by Great Western Railway. The branch line then continues south and joins the Great Western Main Line at West Ealing.

Platform 1 is for westbound Central line trains, and platform 3 for eastbound trains. The access to the platform via escalators takes passengers to the front of the train for westbound service, and the rear for eastbound service.

 
The remaining wooden escalators at Greenford in June 2006, removed in 2014 and replaced with an inclinator. The wooden escalator leading up to the platforms, was the last of its kind in use on the London Underground.

Greenford was the first London Underground station to have an escalator up to platforms above street level.[10] Until 2014 it remained the final London Underground station with a wooden-treaded escalator in service; all other such escalators were previously converted to fully metal treads, or removed altogether from sub-surface Underground stations in the wake of the fatal 1987 King's Cross fire.

In addition to the shuttle train, the line between Greenford and West Ealing carries freight services including containerised domestic waste from near Brentford, sand and gravel traffic as well as occasional special passenger services and a daily Chiltern Railways "parliamentary ghost train" from West Ruislip to West Ealing that returns non-stop to High Wycombe.

In 2009, because of financial constraints, TfL decided to stop work on a project to provide step-free access at Greenford and five other stations, on the grounds that these were relatively quiet stations and some were already one or two stops away from an existing step-free station.[11] £3.9 million was spent on Greenford before the project was halted.[12] The step-free access project, consisting of a glass incline lift, was later restarted, opening on 20 October 2015.[13]

Services

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London Underground

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The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:

National Rail

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Great Western Railway operates a shuttle service to West Ealing every 30 minutes except on Sundays.[citation needed] Services call at South Greenford, Castle Bar Park, Drayton Green and West Ealing and the journey time is just over 10 minutes. The final service of the day runs through to London Paddington, as well as the first terminating service. Until January 2017, all services used to run to and from London Paddington, however, after the construction of a new bay platform at West Ealing and the introduction of Elizabeth line services from London Paddington to Reading, it was then reduced to a shuttle running to and from West Ealing.

Preceding station   London Underground Following station
Northolt
towards West Ruislip
Central line
Ruislip Branch
Perivale
Preceding station   National Rail Following station
TerminusGreat Western Railway
Monday–Saturday only
Disused railways
Northolt   Great Western Railway
New North Main Line
  Perivale Halt

Connections

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London Buses routes 92, 105, 395 and E6 serve the station.

References

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  1. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Estimates of station usage". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
  7. ^ Chronology of London Railways by H.V. Borley
  8. ^ a b "Central Line, Dates". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  9. ^ "Platform Ticket News: Greenford". Journal of the Transport Ticket Society (48). Luton: Transport Ticket Society: 348. December 1967. ISSN 0144-347X.
  10. ^ Bruce, J. Graeme; Croome, Desmond F. (1996). "The New Works Programme Resumed". The Twopenny Tube: The Story of the Central Line. Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. p. 52. ISBN 1-85414-186-4.
  11. ^ "Disability and Deaf Equality Scheme (DES) 2009-2012". TfL. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  12. ^ "TfL wastes £64million abandoning disabled access plans on the Tube". Evening Standard. London. 21 April 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  13. ^ UK’s First Incline Lift Coming To Improve Disabled Access At Greenford Underground… But 8 Crossrail Stations Won’t Have Step-Free Access
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